Customer Reviews

The Real History Behind the Templars

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What with The DaVinci Code and all, the poor old Templars have more fallacies spread around about them than just about any other group of which I can think. Ms. Newman does a wonderful job of describing the situation behind the founding, the life, and the death of the Poor Knights of Christ of the Temple of Solomon, the Templars. She takes a terribly complex subject and subdivides it into manageable portions with the inter-relationships denoted in bold-faced type. This makes her history accessible to a reasonably educated reader who may not have a degree in Medieval History. I found her work to be very accurate if, at times, a bit flip and very easy to follow.

I have read many of Sharan Newman's historical novels and love her engaging style, vivid characters, and sturdily researched history. Still, I hesitated at buying a nonfiction work, worrying that it might be a bit to dully academic. Not to worry. Sharan Newman's nonfiction reads as engagingly as her fiction. She uses an interesting technique of addressing the various aspects of the subject in separate chapters, so you don't really follow a timeline (although she uses many aids for you to keep track of the sequence of events), but are allowed to view the subject from various viewpoints.

I love her statements in the beginning about her footnotes. She allows that they're necessary if readers want to check up on her facts or pursue further lines of inquiry. But she also suggests that if you're just reading her work for pleasure and your own edification, you can just trust her and zip through. How refreshing! I do admit to reading quite a few of the notes (the ones in languages I know, that is), but only because they fleshed out some point or other.

I had read - and enjoyed - Holy Blood Holy Grail (by Baigent, Leigh, & Lincoln) years ago, but didn't get caught up in the Da Vinci Code, because it stuck me it was covering pretty much the same material. Sharan Newman's book soundly tromps on both of those books without being overly negative. I'm so glad I read this book, because it enriches my reading of other novels placed around this time, such as Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest Series.

Provides details and facts behind the individuals and organizations associated with the Templars. Facts are footnoted to original sources, not other fiction, and give the reader a greater understanding of the Templars and the distorted conspiracy myths surrounding the order.

This is an excellent and very readable history of the Templars of both reality and legend,

Sharan has a straightforward and very entertaining narrative style, and while she is quite frank about the challenges of studying history, she also has a witty take on the times. For example, a favourite comment is that on the rules the Templars were to live by, and which were designed to distance women and all their temptations - "after a hard day of fighting Saracens, it might be difficult for a Knight of the Temple to remember that, while he could still pillage, rape was no longer an option". The footnotes are also entertaining, for example when discussing the gruesome delivery of a head to Baghdad, Sharan comments in a footnote "They were always sending heads to Baghdad or Cairo. Don't you wonder what they did with them all?" The book is littered with very 21st century takes on very different times.

It is very droll, hugely entertaining and informative for anyone interested in medieval history. Recommended!

I have now read at least 20 histories of the Knights Templar, and THIS is by far the best presentation of the facts for the non-academic reader. There are more detailed and thorough accounts of the Templars available. There are accounts that are more thoroughly documented with academic-style source citations. But there are none I've found to date that present the Templar facts, and the facts that debunk the popular myths, more clearly, succinctly, or in a more easy-to-read fashion than Newman's The Real History Behind the Templars. If you are writing a thesis or dissertation on the Templars, this is probably not your best source. But if you are looking for an enjoyable, well-written, and well-organized history of the Templars just to satisfy your personal curiosity I highly recommend this one.

These days, it seems like all that's available about the history of the Order of the Temple is the fantastical pseudo-histories of this group of poor knights.

Sharan Newman has really dug into every aspect of the myths, legends, and the facts of the Templars. From her first sentence "How does a legend begin?" she dissects all the overblown stories of this much-maligned group.

Her last chapter points our her heroism in wading into this minefield of revisionist history. The title - "How to tell if you're reading pseudohistory" really explains what a mess this area of history has become. The Templars existed; there is no doubt about that. But they've been totally hijacked by those who want to claim that they are around to this day, even on the U.S. One Dollar Bill.

The most remarkable part of her book is something that 99% of Templar "history" books leave out - FOOTNOTES !! It's simply amazing how many books get sold these days without footnotes. (I think we need a footnote rating on Amazon - The Footnote Police ;)

I've owned Newman's book for about 6 months and its pages are more worn than many books I've owned for 10 years.

I highly recommend this terrific book. You'll treat it more like a reference.

Agree with the reviewer who said he mistakenly thought this book was written by a serious author. I am not knowledgeable enough about the Crusades to pick out factual errors; the book appears well-researched to a novice in this area. However, the writing style of the book is chatty pop history, obviously directed at a young audience. The author injects frequent comments about her thoughts and feelings of the subjects' actions, instead of telling the audience what they did and what happened, and letting the readers draw their own conclusions. I found it distracting. Reviewers of other books on this subject commented that they preferred casual, simplistic writing and thought serious history was too dry. I would recommend this book to that type of reader, but not to anyone used to reading serious research. It is a decent attempt to debunk myths about the Templars.

I love the fact that this book avoids the speculation and looks at the Templar history as seen through the written accounts of the day as well as other archeological and historical evidence available. It's a very interesting read.

I bought the book in good faith, after reading the two reviews, went to the author web page, assumed (it's my fault, never assume anything) she was a serious author. I am currently reading the book I am on page 10 and already corrected 6 errors that are very simply found. The date of creation of the Knight Hospitalier she marked as being 1070 is in fact 1113, the Hospitaliers had a hospital built on the remnant of the St John the Baptist basilica, therefore didn't need to share the Temple of Solomon. The cartulaire left by the Marquis d'Albon is composed of several texts, some of which are still being studied and have been found in a numbers of commanderies or granges of the South of France. I will continue to finish the book but do not recommand it for a novice.

While I have not read this book yet, I have all of the other books by this author and have found them interesting and enjoyable and I expect the same from this book.